< All Press Releases

The Bureau of Land Management, Colorado is sharing some unique photos of wildlife with the public. Wildlife Biologists at the Royal Gorge Field Office use water tanks or “guzzlers,” to manage grazing and increase water access for wildlife. The BLM placed still cameras or “critter cams,” on public lands along the Front Range to monitor wildlife using the water tanks. Not only do the cameras provide valuable data to the biologists, but they also capture some amazing close-up photos of animals not typically seen on a day-to-day basis.“Biologists use these cameras to gather invaluable information regarding species use of various habitats,” said Matt Rustand, Wildlife Biologist, Royal Gorge Field Office.In one incident, the BLM constructed a fence around one particular guzzler to protect it from migrating cattle, while still allowing large wildlife, such as deer and elk, to jump over the fence and continue to drink the water. A camera placed at this site proved the animals were not using the guzzler due to the fence. The biologists in the RGFO realized that they needed to step in and resolved the problem by removing the fence. Without the cameras the biologists wouldn’t have known there was a problem at the site.These cameras snap thousands of photos but rarely capture an animal in plain sight, when one does, the results are truly spectacular. Now, the BLM is sharing these photos with the public. Through BLM Colorado’s Facebook, Flickr and Twitter pages, you can view photos of bear, elk, bighorn sheep, turkeys, bobcats and deer from the “critter cam.”BLM Colorado’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BLMColorado?ref=hl#!/BLMColoradoBLM Colorado’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BLMColoradoBLM Colorado’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmcolorado/